9nine9lives

I was asked by my friend how we organize our toy room and this is what I wrote to her

I haven't forgotten you. I will post pictures tomorrow when there's more light. I can tell you now what we do. I have a loft and it's the toy room. I have zones/areas for the different things they like first I have a book shelf and before they go to bed my 5 year old puts them all back on the shelf. I don't care if it looks great and if he just throws them in there. They are where the are supposed to be and not on the floor. Then we have a desk for any, art, homework, projects they want to do. It has lots of drawers and they put their things in them. So my 7 year old throws everything in drawers and makes it the desk look clean. Again I don't care if all the drawers are full of junk as long as the desk gets cleared of. Then once a month I just throw out the junk. They have a bench to read on and play video games on. Then I have a place in a corner for all the big toy buildings that don't fit in the toy box. Again I don't care if they look perfect but the kids know where to put them when they clean up. The toy box only has enough toys to close the lid. When it starts to over flow I grab a moving box and fill it with toys and put the box in the basement. It's a great way to rotate toys but not have to go through them. Having fewer toys for them to find what they want and having fewer choices helps them find what they want and they don't have to throw everything out to find what they need. Every few months I bring the box back in and it's like Christmas. then I fill it with toys they're tired of. I have a hutch I keep the T.v. game systems, games and controllers. Again I don't care if this hutch stays perfect as long as all the games and controllers get thrown in the hutch. We close the doors and drawers and it keeps everything right there. This makes for a 5 min clean up. So when I say put all the buildings back or put the books away they know where they go. Does that help? We also keep games up on a shelf in the closet.So only one game comes out at a time. Again I don't care if the game is put back perfect as long as it gets in the box.